Tintin in Japan
by Kissy Fishy
Summary: Tintin goes on holiday to Japan with his two best friends, invited by the world renowned Professer Suzuki. Not far into the trip, he meets a girl, and she has completely captivated him. A comic book boy and an anime girl. It's so perfect it can't be true.
1. Chapter 1

***AN: This is a revised edition of Tintin in Japan. I haven't changed the storyline, just added some things and fixed some errors. Thanks for taking the time to read this.***

1

The man took a draw of his cigarette. He had Japanese features, and a smug look on his Asian face.

"Yes, sir," said another man. They sat at the table, the second man trying not to cough because of the smoke. "The plan is completely in place and ready to be set in motion."

The first man grinned. Smoke twirled around him. "Excellent," he sighed.

"On the twenty-first, then, we'll begin," said the second man. He glanced over at the corner. In the shadows, he could only see the legs of the chair and the ropes that held the person down. He snored softly.

"As planned," said the smoker. He lifted the newspaper that lay on the table and smiled at it. "It's about time I repaid that old debt."

The newspaper was old, nearly two weeks. The first page showed a picture of a man in a lab coat, and read: _Search Continues for Scientist Kaito Suzuki._ On the third page, the headline blared: _European Reporter Tintin to Embark on Journey to Japan_.

By now, Tintin was in Japan, relaxing in his hotel room, with Snowy at his feet and his friends lounging about. What a marvelous vacation the boy would have.

* * *

"Snowy, my boy," Tintin said as he stepped off the plane. His white terrier trailed behind him. "Finally, we get to relax. No solving crimes on this journey!"

"Indeed," said Captain Haddock. He took a deep breath. "Can't you just feel the salt in the air? This is a seaman's dream!"

The Tokyo Bay was a stunning sight. Behind them, some Oriental men were already pushing the plane away into its hanger, revealing the sparkling ocean behind them. Ships went in and out of the ports, bringing in the natural resources Japan couldn't provide herself and sending out the fantastic technology she was so gifted at.

Calculus already had his pendulum out. "Oh, splendid, splendid!" he cried. "All the greatest technology in the world, at my feet!"

Tintin looked around. "A pity that Kaito Suzuki person didn't show up. I can't read Japanese." He remembered the message the stewardess had presented him with, announcing the scientist's inability to meet them.

"I say, Tintin," said Calculus. "Can you read Japanese, too?"

Tintin shook his head, but Calculus didn't see him. They wandered about for a while, until they found what Calculus said was a cab. It was bright yellow, with Japanese gibberish on the sides. "Um… Hotel Kawasaki?" Haddock tried, reading off a note card. The driver nodded and, chattering away in Japanese, drove them to their hotel.

When they arrived, the revolving doors the passed through were the only thing that suggested they were in the twentieth century. The floor was entirely black cherry wood, covered in sections with a cherry blossom rug. Instead of windows, there were sliding paper panels. Behind the counter stood a petite young woman in a traditional kimono. Her lips were blood red and her face painted white.

She greeted them in soft, uncertain English, handed them their keys, and pointed out the elevator and the stairwell.

The elevator was nothing like Tintin would have imagined. It was hidden behind a paper paneled door, and inside there was a chair and a decorative painting of the Shinto gods.

Down a cherry carpeted hallway they went. Actual cherry blossoms floated in an open paper window, seemingly forgotten. Tintin entered his own room, deposited his things before he got a good look around, and went to meet the Captain and the Professor in Haddock's room.

His friend's room was decorated in the soft pinks and reds of the cherry tree. A tapestry of Mt. Fuji hung on the back of the door.

"Cuthbert, my friend," the Captain said merrily as he pulled the Japanese wine from a cabinet in the kitchen. He yanked the cork off with a pop and poured three glasses. "This is the good life."

"Rude wife?" Calculus gasped, staring at Haddock. He was seated in a small chair in which his knees went up to his elbows. "I didn't know you were married!"

Tintin accepted a glass of wine from the Captain. He took a sip. "Wow," he said. "Fantastic wine."

"On the subject of woman," Haddock laughed, "this city has some fine ones. Did you notice?"

With a shrug, Tintin shook his head. "I'm not interested enough to look."

"Books, indeed!" cried Calculus. He sat down on a chair and lifted a cup from the table. He held it up to Haddock. "Just a bit."

"Not interested?" The Captain sounded surprised. "Oh, come now. Every man needs a woman!"

"I'm young," he replied with another sip.

In contrast, Haddock drained his glass. "Aye. But you won't be fifteen forever, mate."

"Twenty-four," Tintin corrected.

"Why, I'm willing to bet that even old Cuthbert here has been with a woman or two!" the Captain continued.

"Someone say my name?" Calculus was looking a little dizzy from his wine.

"Yes," said Haddock. "Have you ever been on a date?"

"Now, never being with a woman and never being on a date are two completely different things," Tintin slurred slightly. "I've dated women, but I've never found one I actually _liked._"

"Gone to ice skate? No, I've never done such a thing," Calculus told them. "My girlfriends used to try to talk me into it, but I never had the guts." He wagged his finger at them. "Remember, a scientist is no athlete."

"There, you see? Even Cuthbert's had a girl or two." Haddock poured himself another glass, and Tintin didn't bother to stop him.

"How many girls have you been with, then?" he asked defensively.

The Captain gave a hearty laugh. "You find many women on the sea, my boy. Many, _many_ women, who are always ready to please a man."

Tintin sniffed and took another drink. "That's disgusting."

"Don't love it till you try it," he replied with a shrug.

Calculus raised his glass. "Yes, cheers!" he hiccupped. There was a thin layer of wine left in his cup, and it sloshed dangerously close to spilling.

The other two raised their glasses, unsure what they were cheering.

After draining the last of his wine, Tintin stretched. "I'm tired. Good night."

"Good night," called the Captain.

"No, no, don't fight," ordered the Professor.

Tintin lumbered to his own room down the hall. It was incredibly ornate, with a curtained bed and the sweet scent of cherries in the air. He pulled open his paper door and walked out onto the balcony to regain sobriety. It'd been quite a while since he'd been drunk, and it hadn't taken much. _Guess I forgot how to hold my liquor,_ he thought dryly. He shuddered at the memory of the last time he'd drunk too much. That had been the night… he couldn't finish the thought.

Perhaps what the Captain said about a woman was right. Perhaps it would be good for him to have a lover in his life.

Snowy nosed him in the leg, making him jump. He bent down and grinned at the dog. "I don't need a woman," he told him. "I have you, and you'll never leave me, right Snowy?"

The dog yipped faithfully. Tintin grinned. "That's what I thought."


	2. Chapter 2

2

Tintin woke the next morning with a slight headache, the first hangover he'd had in years. He walked back out on the balcony and inhaled the salty air. It didn't help his headache, but it cleared his thoughts.

"I think we'll go for a walk this morning," he told his dog. Snowy chewed happily on a bone he'd found somewhere and didn't reply.

So Tintin donned his jacket, coaxed Snowy out of the room, and wandered outside. He worked on memorizing the route he took so he could find his way back to the hotel.

The signs all around him were in Japanese, none in English. Tintin felt very out of place as he tried to make sense of the signs. It all looked like squiggly writing to him.

People passed him, speaking to whomever they were with or casting him strange glares. He kept his head down and focused on his shoes. They could use a shine.

A girl strolled past him, walking the same direction but at a much faster pace. She caught his attention because she was panting and kept glancing behind her.

Two men followed her from a distance, snickering to themselves. Tintin, suspecting trouble, trailed after them.

The girl took a turn, winding up in a graffiti covered ally. Her panting turned to panicked gasps as she realized she was cornered. The men laughed when they saw her.

She swung her bag at them, trying to fight them off. But her feeble attempts made them more confident. The girl screamed something Tintin couldn't understand, but it angered the men, and they began to beat her.

"Stop!" Tintin cried. He ran at them, swinging punches at them as the girl sank to the ground, sobbing and clutching her face. "Brutes!"

The men hadn't been looking for a fight, and their expressions betrayed their fear. They ran off without looking back.

The girl sobbed quietly. She was small, with black hair, and the eye she wasn't covering was blue. Tintin stooped down. "Are you alright?" he said slowly.

She lifted her head to gaze at him. Suddenly she flung her arms around him, revealing a black eye where the men had hit her, and broke down in fresh tears. "_Hie, hie, _I'm alright. _Arigato, _thank you, thank you!"

"Poor thing," he murmured. "You've had such a fright. Why don't you come back with me?"

Tintin felt her nodding. "Yes, _hie,_ I would be honored. You are very kind." The girl released him from her embrace. "My name is Kaeda." She smiled the most dazzling smile he'd ever seen.

"I'm… I'm Tintin," he said, returning her smile. Her hair was very black, and very straight, and he had never witnessed eyes more blue. Her eyes were wide for an Asian, but she was beautiful. Simply and astonishingly beautiful.

* * *

The trek back to the hotel was slow, as Kaeda couldn't walk properly. The men had kicked her in the leg, and she had to stop and rest often. When they finally made it back to the hotel, it was nearly noon. Snowy trailed behind him, unhappy about being neglected.

_Lucky there's an elevator,_ Tintin thought as he helped the limping girl inside. _I don't think Kaeda could make it up the stairs._

He unlocked his hotel room, and Snowy ran in and leapt on the bed. "This is mine, and she can't have it!" Snowy said, though no one understood his barks.

Despite Snowy's warning, Tintin helped Kaeda onto the curtained bed, tying the curtains back. "Now you rest," he commanded. "I'll call a doctor."

She giggled. "You don't speak a word of Japanese. Let me call."

"Tintin?" the Captain's voice floated in. He waltzed through the open door, pipe in hand. "There you are. I've been looking all over for you. You got a-." He stopped short when he saw Kaeda. "Who are you?"

"My name is Kaeda," she said with a grin. "Tintin just saved me from a horrible fate."

Haddock groaned sarcastically. "We're supposed to be on vacation!" He gave Tintin a stern look. "No more saving damsels in distress, alright?"

Tintin nodded, smiling. Kaeda laughed, all her tears gone.

"Anyways," the Captain continued, "you got a telegram." He waved the paper in the air. "From that little Chinese lad we saved in Tibet."

"Chang!" he guessed. "What does it say? Oh, let me see, please?" Simply because he was in such good spirits, Tintin took a leap and snatched the paper from his friend. He read it quickly. "He's coming! Chang and his family are coming to Japan!"

"Brilliant!" Kaeda said genuinely. "Friends of such a noble person must be noble as well. I would be delighted to meet your friend."

"Of course!" Tintin insisted. "You must stay here until you're better. I refuse to let you on your own." He ignored Haddock's raised eyebrows. "I must tell the Professor. Call the doctor, Kaeda."

He and the Captain left the room and started down the hall. "Not interested in a woman, eh, Tintin?" laughed Haddock. He lit his pipe and took a puff.

"You're a laugh, Captain," he said bitterly. "Kaeda simply needed help, and when she is recovered, she will go home."

"Sure," agreed the Captain skeptically. "And then she'll be your friend, and then you won't be able to get those eyes off her, my friend. The girl looked at you as if you were her hero." He eyed his friend as he took another smoke of his pipe. "And you looked as if you couldn't have saved a better princess."

Tintin rolled his eyes and snorted. "I have never fallen for a girl before. There's no need to start now." He rapped on Calculus's door. "Professor? Are you there?"

There was no answer. Haddock shrugged. "The man's so deaf, there's no way he heard you." He reached forward and opened the door.

"Funny," Tintin said with suspicion. "It was unlocked." He crept inside with caution…

… to find the Professor laying on his bed, his nose in a book. "Hello!" he greeted when he saw them. "How are you?"

"Just fine, my friend," claimed the Captain. He clapped Tintin on the back. "Tintin here has found himself a lady friend."

"Shady end? Why, that sounds like a terrible book!" Calculus exclaimed. "Why would I read something like that?" He held up his book. "No, no, this is a book on Divination! I've decided I would like to know what my future has in store for me."

"Imagine," Snowy barked. "A professor, wasting his time in things like that!"

"Shall I demonstrate for you?" he asked hopefully. "I'd like to practice, with the tea leaves, if you don't mind."

Next thing they knew, Calculus had poured them tea in little Japanese cups, watched them drink it, and taken their cups and studied them with the book on his lap.

"Hmmm," he mumbled. "My dear Captain, according to your tea leaves, a huge opportunity will arise in the near future, and it's very possible you will overlook something important. Beware what you drink, for your enemies are at large."

The Captain chewed his pipe. "All utter nonsense and gibberish."

"And Tintin," he continued, "a time of great happiness is coming for you, but it will end abruptly, and you will plummet into depression. Deception is coming from where you least expect it." He snapped his book shut. "Well? What do you think?"


	3. Chapter 3

3

"Oh, no, I couldn't!"

"No, no, I insist! I'll sleep on the sofa. It's perfectly all right."

"But I feel so intrusive. It's impolite to take someone's bed."

Tintin shook his head. "It's fine. Besides, Snowy will make up for all the impoliteness."

Kaeda still looked uncertain. She was standing, even though the doctor told her to move as little as possible. Her leg had a splint, and her right hand was heavily bandaged from where the men had stomped on it. "I have no night clothes, and I'll make the bed so filthy in these clothes! I was sitting on the floor of the alley! Please."

"You've been lying there all day. Whether or not you make it any dirtier makes no difference to me."

Her face broke into a smile. "Alright, Mr. Tintin. You win. The uncomfortable, back-breaking sofa is all yours."

"Oh, it can't be that bad," he said.

Kaeda continued to grin. "Obviously, you've never sat on a Japanese sofa before."

Tintin shook his head. "Indeed I haven't. If it's as bad as you say, your pillows just might disappear."

She laughed openly. "Do you have any nightclothes I could borrow?" she asked him. "My pants aren't the best for sleeping."

He turned to his luggage and rummaged through it. "Yes," he called. "Here." Suddenly his cheeks went hot with embarrassment. "I'll- I'll leave…."

"Don't," she said sharply. "I may need help. Just… turn around."

Blushing deeply, Tintin turned around and focused on the patterns of the carpet.

"Ow!" she whimpered.

"Are you okay?" he asked, alarmed.

"Y-yes, I think so. But could you… help me with my pants? My leg, it's-."

Tintin had to interrupt her. "Only if you really need me."

He heard the rumpling of fabric. "Oh, never mind. Ouch. I got it off."

Immediately, Tintin felt guilty. "Sorry, Kaeda. I'm just… nervous," he admitted.

"It's alright. Besides, I did it myself, right?"

He nodded, shame still tingling in his chest. "True."

She placed her hand on his shoulder, and he turned around. "If you feel that bad, can you help me button up? There's no way I can do it with this hand."

Her shirt was unbuttoned, and it was all Tintin could do not to turn in shame. Hot with embarrassment, he proceeded to button her shirt from top to bottom. She smiled when he did up the last one. "Thank you," she said. "Good night."

Kaeda limped back to the four-poster bed and pulled the curtain shut.

Tintin stood there for another moment, until Snowy's sharp bark brought him out of his trance. "Good night!" he said finally. He then changed into his pajamas and lay down on the short red couch.

_She was right,_ he thought, squirming on the cushions. _It _is_ uncomfortable.

* * *

_

"Professor," Tintin began, "this is Kaeda."

"No thank you," said Calculus. "And who is this?"

Kaeda smiled. "Kaeda," she told him, extending a hand.

The Professor grinned back and shook her hand. "Splendid, splendid! My name is Calculus, Cuthbert Calculus."

"Amazing," muttered Haddock. "He heard her."

"Now, my dear Maria," he continued, "you live here, yes? Where is the Yimoki?"

Snickering, Kaeda pointed. "Just past the museum."

"A mausoleum? Goodness, I'll steer clear. But where is the Yimoki?"

Laughing openly now, she grabbed his hand and pulled him outside the hotel. She pointed down the street, and shouted to him. Eventually, he nodded and strolled off down the street.

Kaeda limped back into the lobby, chuckling and giggling. "Your friend is quite a character," she laughed. "I do believe he'll be calling me Maria for the rest of his days."

The simple fact that she was laughing caused Tintin to laugh as well. "True. He claims he's only a little deaf, but… well, you saw."

Her voice rang like bells, and she seemed to find the whole thing incredibly comical. "I like him," she grinned.

Tintin watched Calculus shuffle down the street. "What on earth is a yimoki?" he asked.

"It's where a bunch of brainiacs gather to discuss theories and ideas," Kaeda explained. She pursed her lips, as if at an unpleasant memory. "Rather boring."

"So, where would you two like to go for lunch?" the Captain asked.

Tintin, having no knowledge of the area, shrugged.

"There's a great sushi bar a little ways away," Kaeda told them. "They have the most elegant drinks." Suddenly, she looked stricken. "But perhaps we'll save that place for dinner, yes?"

"Er, yes, certainly." Haddock looked a little put out at the prospect of no drinks.

Kaeda retreated into her mind for a minute before speaking again. "We'd have to take a cab, but there's a place where they serve the most wonderful fried squid. Let's go there."

* * *

The restaurant was a quaint little place Kaeda said was called Momoko's Lovely Sea Cuisine. Their specialty, apparently, was peach flavored anything. Tintin, Haddock, and Kaeda sat on thin orange pillows with an incredibly short table in front of them. Tiny cups that resembled shot glasses held their steaming tea.

Tintin stared in wonder at the menu. "Um, I can't read this," he commented. It was all the strange markings of Japanese, and he couldn't tell if it read forwards, backwards, or up and down.

"Me neither." Haddock twisted around on his cushion, for his knees barely fit under the table. "Do they serve whiskey here?"

"I've never seen a drop of whiskey in Japan," Kaeda said sternly. She fit the table just right, as if it had been built with her in mind.

The Captain propped his elbow on the table and rested his head on it. "Not a drop of whiskey in this God forsaken country," he grumbled.

"What should I get?" Tintin asked Kaeda.

Kaeda's eyes read over the menu, then looked up at him. "You should get-." She broke off. Her eyes widened as she stared past Tintin. She winced.

"Is something wrong?"

She blinked and came out of her trance. Tintin watched her with concern, but she smiled immediately. "The squid," she finished. "It's peach flavored. Or the teriyaki shrimp, if you like that better."

Tintin cocked his head to the side, confused. "I'll… get the squid. I've never tried it before."

_That was definitely something,_ he thought. _Most definitely. Perhaps she saw the men from yesterday…? _

No. She wouldn't have behaved like that. She would have said something, right?

"Captain, you should get the teriyaki steak," Kaeda continued. "I think you would like it. Oh, and I'll order us all fried rice. It's the most wonderful fried rice in all of Tokyo." She looked down at the menu again. "I'll get the shrimp. The peaches they put in it are my favorite."


	4. Chapter 4

4

Tintin woke up on the couch, stiff as a board. He had been sleeping on it for a week now, and his back hurt terribly.

Kaeda's limp was gone, as was her black eye. But the cast remained on her hand, and would for three months. They had smashed the bones to pieces, and there was no hope of it ever working properly again.

"Good morning," she greeted him, stepping out of the washroom. "We're eating breakfast in the hotel restaurant. Your friends are already down there." Kaeda flipped her hair around and pulled the paper door open. Her eyes dazzled in the light. "Get dressed. I'll wait for you in the hall." She smiled once more before leaving the room.

As he dressed, Tintin thought about Kaeda the entire time. _She's amazingly beautiful,_ he told himself. _And kind, and funny, and she must enjoy my presence, or else she would have gone home by now. I've never liked another woman this much before. _

He buckled his belt and walked up to the door. With his hand on the knob, he hesitated.

Someone was talking to Kaeda. In English. And it wasn't the Captain or the Professor.

"Fine," he heard her snap. "But don't expect me to do anything more."

The person, a male by his voice, laughed. "There's nothing more you _can _do." Footsteps, and then the person was gone. Kaeda gasped with a sob, but that was it.

Tintin pulled the door open. She twirled around and smiled warmly with glazed eyes. "There you are. Come on; let's go before the others eat without us." She grabbed his wrist and led him down the stairs excitedly. When she met his gaze again, the glaze over her beautiful blue eyes was gone, and they shone once again.

_I must have imagined it._

"Ahoy, there, Tintin!" Haddock called, waving from a table. Calculus was busy reading his Divination book again.

Tintin and Kaeda hurried over and took the two empty seats. "Hello," Kaeda said breathlessly.

"Good morning, my dear Maria!" the Professor greeted her. He rattled off in Japanese something that made Kaeda glance at Tintin, then blush and giggle guiltily. They had been having similar exchanges all week, and Tintin had given up trying to figure out what had been said.

They ate, laughing and joking as if they were at Marlinspike again, and as if Kaeda had lived with them all their lives.

"Tonight," she announced, "we _must_ go to that sushi bar I was telling you about. I believe we have deprived the Captain of fine champagne long enough."

"Fine champagne?" he repeated. "Jolly good. Let's go!"

Calculus laughed. "No, no, my dear. It's not going to rain. My divination book tells me so."

Kaeda looked as if she were fighting back a gale of laughter. She bit her lip and managed to keep from smiling. "Yes," she agreed. "No rain."

* * *

"Here," Kaeda stated.

Tintin looked up at the bar. It was at the top of a place filled with other restaurants, and had the roof of the building. He couldn't tell if it was a scandalous bar or a sophisticated one, but it was a bar.

Did sushi bar mean something different than just bar? He couldn't be sure.

He was going to a bar for dinner, not to apprehend criminals. Which meant there was a very good chance he would be drinking, and that was never good.

Inside, the floor was very black, as were the walls, and it was empty. A girl who Tintin assumed was the bartender was busy wiping down the counters. Her eyes were very heavily outlined, and her hair had streaks of pink in it. She looked the exact opposite of the receptionist at the hotel.

"_Konichiwa_, Yuki!" Kaeda called as they stepped out of the elevator and into the bar.

The girl looked up. "Kaeda!" she called. "_Konichiwa_!" She continued off in Japanese, and Kaeda responded in the same tongue. The girl smiled and pulled four glasses out from under the bar. She gestured to the stools and placed the glasses in front of them.

"I don't like this much," Snowy grumbled. He seated himself at the base of Tintin's stool and growled at the girl. The girl behind the bar leaned over at his growl, grinned widely, and tossed him an enormous hunk of meat. "Never mind!" he corrected. "This place is great!"

Kaeda hopped up on her stool, between Tintin and the Captain. The Professor sat down on Tintin's other side. She nodded once to the girl, who disappeared through a door.

"Do you know her?" Tintin asked over the noise.

Kaeda nodded. "She was my lab partner in chemistry during college." She pointed to the girl when she returned with plates of sushi. "_Arigato,_" Kaeda said, then added something Tintin really couldn't be bothered to understand.

The girl's eyes lit up, and she nodded enthusiastically. She hustled away, looking excited.

Tintin took a bite of his sushi. "I'm guessing she didn't do very well in that class, if she wound up as a bartender."

"Oh, no, Yuki was top of the class," commented Kaeda, obviously used to this kind of remark. "Watch her make the drinks."

He did, and found himself impressed. Yuki threw the drinks together with amazing speed and accuracy, and with plenty of flair to make up for a mistake if she made one.

"Here," she said in heavily accented voice. "Drinks." She looked at Tintin through eyes that had far too much eyeliner, and giggled. She whispered something to Kaeda.

"Remarkable!" exclaimed the Professor. "The quality of this vodka is so incredibly high that my pendulum is reacting to it!"

More like he was swinging his pendulum himself, as one sip had him tight. "Cuthbert, I do believe you're right!" the Captain hiccupped. His glass was already empty. Only Tintin and Kaeda had bothered to eat the sushi. "It's so good, I believe we need another round!"

"More sound!" Calculus cried. "It's too quiet. A bit louder!"

Kaeda laughed, her cheeks pink from what she had drank. She slid off her stool and skidded over to the radio, where she turned up the volume.

_So lucky we're the only ones here,_ Tintin thought. _I would be so ashamed to be seen with them in this state._

"Drink," Yuki commanded him. "It good."

Not wanting to be rude, Tintin shrugged and took a sip.

Immediately, all his worries left him. The world seemed to be completely in order. He felt like he could do anything. And the drink tasted of the sweetest nectar, filling him with great warmth that made him want to laugh.

Kaeda sat down next to him again and popped one of the sushi wraps in her mouth. "Delicious," she whispered with closed eyes.

Calculus leaned past the Captain and rambled something to Kaeda in Japanese that caused her to gasp and Yuki to burst out laughing.

"Is that true?" she questioned Tintin, looking absolutely shocked.

He downed half his glass. "Is what true?"

"That you're still a virgin," she whispered loudly.

Captain Haddock choked on his second glass. "What?" he cried.

Tintin's brow furrowed, and he looked confused. "No," he said slowly. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh," she said simply. "I didn't think so." She sipped her drink. "The Professor told me… something related to that."

He whipped around and glared at Calculus. "He wants me and you to hit it up, doesn't he?" he snapped. "Because he thinks I'm lonely."

"Wait a minute, there," Haddock interrupted. "You're not a virgin, yes? How old were you?"

Tintin shrugged and took a long gulp, to dissipate his anger. "I don't know. Fourteen or fifteen."

He looked bewildered. "Blistering barnacles, Tintin." He drained his third glass. "Th-th-that's worse than m-m-me."

Ashamed, Tintin turned away and reached for a second glass. "I was messed up."

"Indeed, these are very clean cups," the Professor remarked. "I had expected less, but this is superb!"

Tintin did his best to avoid Kaeda's astonished eyes. The fact that they were blue made it all the worse. "Were you really that bad?" she asked quietly.

He hesitated to take another sip before nodding. "I… I'll tell you later."

"Well!" exclaimed the Captain, clapping Tintin on the back. "Now that he's not as bad as he claims he was, you two can have fun!"

"What?"

A sly smile crept up his face. He leaned closer to Tintin, and, in a gruff whisper, said, "Kiss her."

Tintin snorted. "She wouldn't want that!"

"And if I did?"

He jumped. Kaeda was right next to him, looking skeptical. Tintin found himself stuttering. "Y-you don't… m-m-mind?"

She shook her head and smiled her dazzling smile. "Not at all, Mr. Tintin."

_I'll need another sip._ He drained the rest of his glass. "Alright." He leaned forward as quickly as he could and kissed her soft lips.

Tintin couldn't help but to kiss her again. And again. He placed a hand behind her head and gave her one more before she pulled away.

"Later," she breathed, pressing one slender finger to his mouth. "I promise."

Kaeda glanced around the bar, and caught sight of the tail of a coat vanishing through the door.


	5. Chapter 5

5

Yuki had given them a bottle to take back with them. Tintin had to drag the Captain and the Professor to their rooms, they were so drunk. He was proud on how he'd managed to keep his head.

Except for when he'd kissed Kaeda. He'd lost all sense of sobriety then. His head had spun and he'd felt more drunk than he had in years. He had wanted more, and more, and probably would have found it hard to stop.

Despite all this, she had promised him they would continue later, and he looked forward to it.

Tintin opened his own door quietly. Kaeda got up from where she lay on the bed and embraced him, stretching up to kiss him. He smiled as she pulled away. "Alright," he said.

Kaeda dragged him over to the bed, where he lay down and she on top of him. "Now," she began, kissing him, "is later. Tell me about how you were messed up."

He smiled dopily. "You're lucky I'm drunk," he told her.

She widened her innocent eyes. "Please tell me, Tintin?"

"That's not my name."

Now she looked curious. "It's not?" she asked.

"No," he said. "Well, not my birth name, at least."

Kaeda leaned closer so that their noses touched. "What's your real name?" She spoke in such an irresistible tone.

Tintin gave in. "I was born Kristofer Eric Foster." He gazed into her perfect blue eyes with his darker ones. "I would prefer you to call me that, if we're ever alone like this again."

She stroked his head. "Of course," she breathed. "Kristofer."

He ran his hands down her back. "You know a secret of mine, now it's your turn."

Kaeda put on a thoughtful expression. "Well, I have been the guinea pig of highly dangerous experiments."

Tintin froze. "Really?" he questioned.

She nodded. "But it's alright. I volunteered." She pressed her lips to his. "Now why are you such a naughty boy?"

"My father dealt in opium, and drank plenty for the whole family. I stole a good portion of it for myself." Tintin's eyes glazed over, not seeing Kaeda anymore but a distant memory. "That's why I don't like drinking. It led to plenty of mistakes in my life. So you're lucky you got me this tight."

The clock chimed, marking the late hour. Kaeda reached for the bottle on the nightstand and popped the lid off. She took a drink before giving it to Tintin. He drank some absentmindedly. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

His words were slurred now. "S'alright. I've _hic_ gotten over it." He handed her the bottle. "I think I'm falling asleep."

Kaeda's lip trembled, and her eyes glistened. She pulled the curtains closed and lay down next to him instead of on top. Tintin was already asleep.

She would have to undress him and herself, make it look like they had slept together, for the only place there weren't cameras were inside the bed curtains.

* * *

Kaeda woke before Tintin did. She pulled some fresh clothes on and wandered around the room, her heart torn and her mind going through memories.

She had gone to Kaito's house to find it empty. She had telephoned the laboratory to find that he had left late the night before.

And then the phone had rung.

She had raced towards it, and answered the call with a hopeful "_Ohaiyo?_"

"Good morning yourself." The voice had made her blood run cold. "You speak English, right, Suzuki?"

With a dry mouth, she replied. "Yes." Then she grew bolder. "Who are you?"

"There's no need for you to know that."

"Where's Kaito?" Her heart rate increased with every second on the phone with the man.

"He's with us, and safe, for the moment. Your brother tried to do a very bad thing. Do you know what it was?"

Kaeda shook her head. "No." Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she realized that her brother had been kidnapped.

"He tried to send incredibly valuable documents to his friend Professor Calculus in Belgium. Did you know that? And, you see, we can't have that." The man hesitated. "However, he managed to invite the Professor and his two friends to stay in Japan. The young one, his name is Tintin, he'll cause us problems. And if you want to see Kaito without a bullet in his head, you'll help us."

Tears threatened to escape her eyes, and she couldn't keep the trembling out of her voice. "What do you want me to do?" she whispered shakily.

"Easy," said the man. "He's a man, you're a woman. Need more explaining?"

"What? No! I would never, ever, stoop down to that level!"

There was a click on the other end. "Is that so?"

Fearing that he had a gun, Kaeda hastened to correct her mistake. "I mean, well, I'm not experienced in that field! I don't know how to do it!"

"You're smart. You'll figure out a way." There was movement of paper. "They'll be here in two days. You've got that long to plan, or you'll be a lonely twin."

And the man hung up.

Since then, Kaeda had planned and plotted her devious scheme, telling herself it was for Kaito. She had asked the man to send two of his accomplices to abuse her, the instant she saw Tintin step out of the hotel. She had watched him carefully, and every moment he showed even the slightest bit of affection, she returned it tenfold.

She hadn't considered the possibility of her falling in love with him.

Today, he was to go down for breakfast with a hangover, as was she. Kaeda would state that she felt ill, and return upstairs. The men would have already thrown the room apart, and dropped the vital piece of evidence Tintin would need to find where she was being kept.

He would be walking right into a trap.

And while he searched for Kaeda, his two friends would be taken hostage, and when he found them, it would be when he himself was a prisoner.

Kaeda sat down in the chair and waited for Tintin to wake up.

* * *

"I'm not feeling well," Kaeda moaned. She was staring at her food with a horrible look on her face, and she was pale.

"Goodness gracious, Maria, are you feeling well?" asked Calculus.

She shook her head. "I think I'll go rest." Kaeda pushed her chair away weakly.

Tintin watched her stumble out of the hotel restaurant. "Perhaps I should go check on her…."

"No, no, she's fine," insisted Haddock. "She's a woman, and they like to take care of themselves." He added syrup to his pancakes. "So, tell us, how was last night?"

He cocked his head. "I don't really remember. I was drunk, I know that." He gasped. "Oh, I hope I didn't hurt her somehow!" Tintin leapt up from the table. "I must go and see." The chair fell over as he sprinted away.

Tintin didn't bother to wait for an elevator; he rushed right up the stairs, floor after floor, until there was only one more to go.

There was a scream from above him, and he froze. It was a scream he had heard before.

A scream he had heard when a certain girl was attacked.

With panic pulsing through him, Tintin ran up the last flight of stairs, taking them two at a time. As he bolted down the hall to his room, the other guests in the hotel poked their heads out of their rooms, curious to see who had screamed and why.

Suddenly, Tintin skidded to a halt. The door of his room was slightly ajar.

He was afraid to go in. Afraid that if he opened the door a bit more, he would not see Kaeda, but her corpse. Tintin swallowed. "Kaeda?" he called shakily.

His hand reached out and pushed the door open.

The room was destroyed. Feathers from the bed were still floating about, having spilled out of the mattress and pillows where knives had cut through them. There were rips in the drapes and paper of the window, and shattered glass covered the carpet. The washroom door hung off its hinges, creaking.

What was left of the low coffee table was splintered around the room, and there were dents in the walls.

There was no mistaking it. The evidence was all too certain.

Either Kaeda had been kidnapped, or the body of the most beautiful girl in the world was somewhere in one of the largest cities on earth.


	6. Chapter 6

6

Tintin scoured the room from top to bottom, searching for anything that would aid him in his search for Kaeda. All that he found was a ripped piece of paper, with something written in Japanese on it.

"Don't you think we should go to the police?" asked the Captain, watching Tintin sit at the desk with a phone book in front of him. He was trying to match up the Japanese symbols with those in the phone book.

"No," he said stubbornly. Haddock had been asking him that question quite a bit. "They won't be any help."

"How do you know?" Haddock growled, but he gave up.

"My pendulum tells me there is a very rare metal in this room," said Calculus, watching it swing. "I believe it is gold."

Tintin spun around. "I don't care, Professor."

"My hair? Why yes, I do like my hair."

"No," he said stiffly. "I do not want to hear about your pendulum."

"Impossible," said the Professor. "I can't do that."

"Do you not understand, you miserable oaf?" he screeched. "Kaeda is gone! Kidnapped! Never to be seen again!"

Snowy shied away from his master, and crept under the bed. "I knew nothing good would come of her," he grumbled.

Suddenly, Calculus shot up. "A goat? Me?"

Tintin was on his feet as well. "Yes, if you want me to say it like that!" he shouted. "You're a very stubborn, obnoxious _goat!_"

"You take that back, young man!"

"Kaeda has disappeared, and you treat it like a joke!" he countered.

Calculus was so furious he was quaking. "How dare you call a man of my age something like that! Respect your elders, boy! What would Maria say if she saw you like this? I can guarantee you; you'd lose her for good!"

Tintin curled his fingers in rage, pressing his nails so hard into his palms that his knuckles went white. He dropped down in the chair again and began to scribble furiously on a scrap of paper.

"Now what?" Haddock whispered, afraid that if he were heard the storm would be unleashed upon him.

Instead, Tintin grabbed his scrap of paper and dropped it in Calculus's hand.

_Kaeda has been kidnapped. Can you read this to me?_

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the paper with the Japanese on it, and handed it to the professor in a much gentler manner.

Slowly, Calculus nodded. "It's a street address," he told him.

* * *

Captain Haddock poured himself another glass of whiskey. He set the bottle down and missed the counter. It shattered and spilled precious alcohol all over the floor. "Thundering typhoons and a barnacle to go with it!" he swore. "It's just my luck, too." Then, the door of his room opened.

"Cuthbert?" he asked. "Is that you, old boy?"

He turned around to greet his friend, but the chloroform knocked him out before he could see his captor.

And while Professor Calculus had his nose in his divination book, the same person walked in, making as much noise as possible, and the old man never looked up from his book. When the handkerchief came around his mouth, he could do little more than grunt in protest before he succumbed to the gas.

And so, the great Tintin was alone, and the revenge Mitsuhirato had planned fell perfectly into place.

* * *

"Excuse me," Tintin asked the hotel receptionist, "but did you happen to see my friends leave?"

The young girl shook her head. "No, sir. No Captain leave. No Professor leave. I sorry," she said softly.

He smiled in forgiveness. "It's perfectly alright. Thank you." As Tintin walked away, his mind whirred. Why would they have gone? And, more importantly, where? Something wasn't right. _I'll go to their rooms and snoop around._ Snowy scampered at his heels, excited for something to do after being neglected for a week.

Up the stairs and inside the professor's room, Tintin sat in the chair. "Now, if I were him, I'd be reading my book right here. Surely I would have heard-." He broke off. "Professor Calculus is deaf," he reminded himself. "So I wouldn't hear someone come in."

Shaking his head, he left that room and proceeded into the Captain's. "He's not deaf, so if someone had come in, he definitely would have heard." Tintin set himself behind the bar and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. "If I were the Captain, I would be standing here, or perhaps sitting at the desk." He moved to go sit down, when something crunched under his foot.

Tintin realized he was standing in a puddle of whiskey, and stepping on pieces of glass. "Odd," he murmured. "If I didn't know better, I'd say the Captain dropped his cup, or the whole bottle for that matter." Suddenly, an idea struck him. He plunged his hand in his pocket and pulled out the street address. "Here Snowy," he called. "Sniff for a strange scent. Someone we don't know."

The dog took a whiff of the paper, put on a thoughtful expression, then shook his head. "I know every scent on that paper," he said.

The paper crinkled in his hands. "Perhaps the girl down in the lobby can tell us where this is!" He smacked himself on the forehead. "I can't believe I didn't think of it before! C'mon, Snowy," he called, already racing away. "I think we're going to get to the bottom of this."

The girl looked pleased to see him again, and all too gladly pointed him in the right direction. Snowy followed reluctantly, uncertain if they were being led to friends or foes.

* * *

The man strolled down the street, smirking slightly. He had boyish features, and there was an odd bounce in his step.

Former General Tapioca watched him sally along down the road. "That's him, isn't it?" he whispered to Allen.

Allen nodded. "Look. He's stopping."

Indeed, the man stopped in front of the building and stared at it curiously.

"Where's that infernal mongrel of his?" Allen asked. "The creature never leaves his side."

"_Caramba,_ he's moving on!" Tapioca cursed.

"Let's get him," Allen agreed.

The two men crept out of their hiding place and snuck up behind their target. "Hello, Tintin," Allen greeted with a sly smile.

The man, however, kept walking.

"Hey!" cried Tapioca. "We're talking to you!"

He continued to waltz along, now humming a merry tune.

Allen couldn't take it; he'd never been a patient man. He rushed up behind Tintin and cracked him on the head with his flashlight. He crumpled to the ground instantly, and they dragged him back to the building.


	7. Chapter 7

7

Tintin ran at full sprint down the street, Snowy at his heels. _Left turn, down six blocks, right at the soda billboard. _He went through the directions over and over again, afraid he would run right past the place.

Out of breath, he slowed to a walk. Snowy panted at his side. "Water," Snowy barked. "I'm thirsty, Tintin."

"Hello," Tintin said curiously. He cocked his head, confused, as he read the address on the side of an ominous looking building. "It looks like the address matches!" He scooped Snowy off the ground, dancing around with him. "We found her! We found Kaeda!" It hadn't taken nearly as long as he'd expected, but he didn't care. Kaeda was in the building, waiting to be rescued.

"ECTOPLASMS!" shouted a voice. "PIRATES! LANDLUBBERS! BEASTS! BASHI-BAZOUKS! GOOD FOR NOTHING COCONUT HEADS!"

Tintin felt his jaw drop. "I do believe that's Captain Haddock's voice," he gasped.

Now he knew what was going on. Someone was trying to get to Tintin, trying to lure him in. It was all a trap.

And yet there was no way he could leave his friends there, especially Kaeda. Whoever had laid this trap was amazingly clever.

* * *

"Brutes!" screamed the Captain. "Pockmarks! Demons! Just look what you've done! You've _murdered_ Tintin!"

"Quiet, you old boozer," Allen sneered, resisting the urge to wallop the man. "He's just knocked out."

"And I'm telling you, there's a storm brewing!" Calculus insisted. "Can't you hear it?" he added as Haddock yelled a few more insults for good measure.

Kaeda sat on the floor, rocking back and forth, sobbing quietly. "He's dead," she whispered. "Just look at all the blood. So… much blood." _And I led him to this._

"Ah, there," said Mitsuhirato. "He's coming round.

Kaeda's heart skipped a beat, and she held her breath as Tintin lifted his head and looked around the room. "Where am I?" he asked. He met the eyes of the Captain. "And who are all of you?"

* * *

Tintin stepped into the building. "Odd," he said to Snowy. "There are no guards."

"Keep on your toes, Tintin," his dog warned. "I smell trouble."

The door closed quietly, and master and dog crept around. Tintin searched for stairs, as the voice of his friend continued to ring from higher up. Now he could hear the kidnappers yelling for them to be quiet, and a soft sobbing.

_That must be Kaeda,_ he thought. _And they made her cry. _A new kind of anger burned inside him. Hurting Kaeda seemed like an unforgivable crime.

"Shut up!" shouted a familiar voice. Snowy growled at the sound.

Quietly, Tintin walked up the stairs. There was a light that he could see, and someone standing outside the door. Just a little closer….

There was a tremendous clap of thunder, startling Tintin and causing him to swear as he stubbed his toe on the step.

The guard turned his head, and he heard the click of a gun.

_Quietly, now,_ he told himself. He slunk into the shadows, and the man stepped cautiously past him.

Tintin jumped, ripped the gun from the man's hands, and whacked him on the head before he had time to say anything. "Jolly good job, Tintin," Snowy congratulated.

"Oh, you've hit him so hard!" he heard Kaeda cry, and break down in fresh tears.

The Captain spoke next. "Come now, you remember me, don't you?"

With silence that would spark jealousy in a cemetery, Tintin shimmied along the wall and peered into the room.

Through the crack in the door, he could see a desperate looking Captain Haddock, a confused Calculus, and a man whom Tintin had been certain was dead.

Mitsuhirato.

Without thinking, Tintin burst through the door. "Hands up!" he shouted, aiming the gun.

There were more people than he'd realized, and all of them his old enemies. Besides Mitsuhirato, there was Allen, General Tapioca, Bab El Erh, and Rastapopulous.

And then, there was Captain Haddock, tied up in a chair, staring at him with utmost confusion. Professor Calculus looked from him to the person who was on all fours on the floor, as if working through a complicated problem.

And then there was Kaeda, her blue eyes wide with shock, looking absolutely horrified.

"There's _two_ of them!" cried Allen, dropping his gun.

Tintin looked around. "Where's the other one?"

The person on the floor lifted his head and sat up. There was blood covering the left side of his face, and still more trickled from a wound on his head. He waved sarcastically, with an expression of anger on his face.

"Michael?" Tintin asked.

"Yeah, that's right," Michael sneered. "And you're Tintin now, are you? Even halfway across the world, you drag me into your meddlesome affairs. What did you do to upset them, Kris?"

"Ten thousand thundering typhoons, someone's going to tell me what's going on here or they'll be thrown overboard, d'you hear!" shouted Haddock.

Guiltily, Tintin aimed the gun at Allen, and took on a look of embarrassment. "This," he began, gesturing to the boy on the floor, "is my older brother, Michael Charles Foster."

Calculus looked positively delighted, having not heard or understood anything, simply made the connection through his vision. "Wonderful! I had no idea you had a twin!"

"Not twins," corrected Michael. "I'm two years older than this idiot." He glared at his brother. "Dad told you more than once not to stick your nose where it didn't belong," he spat.

Tintin snorted. "Did you really think I'd listen to that old bastard? He also said I'd never live past sixteen, yet here I am."

"This is entertaining," muttered Bab El Erh.

"Yes," Tapioca agreed. "Let them squabble before we kill them."

"And once again, Kristofer, you have gotten me tangled up in all this," complained Michael.

Tintin had stopped pointing the gun and was now talking animatedly with his hands. "How was I supposed to know you were in Japan?" he asked incredulously. "You always blame me for things that are your fault!"

"What? I-."

"Billions of bilious blistering barnacles!" interrupted the Captain. "Can't you two forget your family dramas for a minute and realize they're going to kill us ALL?"

"Yes, it does look like he took a fall," Calculus agreed, staring at Michael.

"Ah, for once the old drunkard is using his head!" Allen celebrated mockingly. "Bring him some brandy, so he'll die happy."

Haddock's face went deep red. "I don't want any brandy, you great big buffoon!" he screeched.

Mitsuhirato smiled. "I do believe it's time we disposed of the greatest pains we've ever had."

"By Allah," agreed Bab El Erh.

Tapioca clapped his hands. "Bring him in," he called.

Rastapopulous and Allen grinned, and left the room.

"Now Kaeda," Mitsuhirato began, folding his hands on the desk, "we promised you your brother back if you brought us Tintin, did we not?"

Tintin's brow furrowed in confusion. Surely Kaeda was as much a prisoner as they were? He turned and waited for her denial of the lie.

Instead, avoiding all eyes, she nodded.

It felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest. _No,_ he thought. _It's not possible. _Kaeda… he had _saved_ her! Helped her. Laughed with her. Loved her.

Allen and Rastapopulous returned, pulling a man by the arms. His legs dragged on the ground.

Kaeda gasped. "Kaito," she whispered.

The man looked up with tremendous effort at the sound of his name. His dark brown eyes met her blue ones, and he smiled weakly.

"Here he is." Mitsuhirato grinned mercilessly.

Tintin looked at the man, recalling the letter the Professor had received that had dragged them to Japan in the first place.

"_Tintin, Captain Haddock!" the professor called. "Look, look! My dear colleague Kaito Suzuki has invited us to Japan. We simply must go!" _

"_To Japan?" the Captain repeated. _

"_No, no, Japan," insisted Calculus. "I haven't seen him in ages! Look, I have a picture, let me show you." _

And the man looked like an older version of the picture Calculus had shown him. He began to notice how he and Kaeda had the same nose, the same curve of their mouths when they smiled, the same jet black hair….

Tintin continued to stare at Kaito Suzuki, until he heard the click of a gun.

"Now," said Tapioca, a large gun in his hands. "You die."

He looked around slowly, carefully. Without realizing it, the others had pulled their guns out, and at such close range, there was no reason to aim. They had dropped Kaito, and he was now crawling to sit against the wall. Kaeda was resisting the urge to run to her brother. Reluctantly, he dropped the gun he had taken from the guard. It wouldn't help him now. He knelt down on the ground next to Michael, and those who could raised their hands above their heads.

_How could I have let myself get distracted?_ he wailed inwardly. _I've _never_ been so careless! And now, not only me, but everyone, including Kaeda, will die. _

_No,_ he thought angrily and sadly. _She's one of them. She won't die. _

"So," spat Michael, "I'm going to die in an abandoned building in Japan at the hands of drug smugglers, all thanks to Kris." He sighed dramatically. "Allow me to say that you're the most wonderful little brother a guy could ask for."

"Don't you ever quit?" Tintin snapped. "I don't want to die, and I don't want my friends to die either."

"Your friends are at least twenty years older than you, Kristofer," Michael told him. "And the only girl just handed you over to the Grim Reaper."

Rastapopulous rolled his eyes and lowered his gun. He was impatient, and the argument looked like it would take a while.

He shrugged, trying not to let it show how much it really stung. "What can I say? I attract evil women."

They glared at each other for a while.

Mitsuhirato exhaled boredly. "Finished?" he asked in an exasperated tone.

"Yep," Michael announced.

"We're done," said Tintin.

Snowy growled, but sat down obediently beside his master.

Allen cocked his gun. "Wonderful," he muttered. And he squeezed the trigger.

"NO!"

The gun went off, and Allen was suddenly knocked into the wall. Kaeda had hit him so fast and so hard that Tintin hadn't even seen her.

"What!" screamed Mitsuhirato. "Fire at her! Kill her brother! DO SOMETHING!"

Tintin closed his eyes and plugged his ears as the guns went off. He didn't want to see Kaeda killed, didn't want to see her dead on the floor.

"Dammit!"

The sound of reloading reached his ears, and he dared to open his eyes. Kaeda had taken out Tapioca and Bab El Erh, and was now standing behind him, untying the Captain and the Professor.

"We must get out of-."

One more bullet went off, and the air in the room went very cold.

Kaeda rammed into Mitsuhirato with a scream. She slammed his face into the desk with such ferocity that the desk cracked and he bounced back. His glasses broke, he fell to the floor, and he didn't get up. Rastapopulous gaped in terror, and sped out of the room. The door clanked against its frame as he ran.

"Oh dear," Tintin heard the Professor say with a tremble.

He looked around, following Michael's horrified eyes. And his heart stopped.

Kaito was smiling at Kaeda across the room, color slowly draining from his face. He breathing was labored, but his were bright. And, on the chest pocket of his white lab coat, a scarlet stain was spreading across the fabric.


	8. Chapter 8

8

Tintin felt his body go numb. He hadn't known Kaito, but the pain on Kaeda's face was enough. He watched Kaeda watch Kaito, and felt such a horrible pain inside him.

And then Kaito, very weakly, waved goodbye.

"KAITO!" Kaeda shrieked. She shoved her fist in her move as tears streamed down her cheeks. Suddenly, she turned and ran _straight through_ the wall, falling from the second story, and took off running on the ground.

"Kaeda!" Tintin called after her. He hurried over to Kaito and examined his wound. "It's not deep," he told the Captain and the Professor rapidly. "Miraculously. We can save him if we act fast. Call an ambulance," he commanded them. "I'll go get Kaeda."

Snowy rushed to follow Tintin as he dropped out of the hole made by Kaeda, and howled desperately when he couldn't.

Kaeda was running inhumanly fast, and in the gathering darkness and rain of the storm, she was disappearing quickly. He called her, again and again, chasing her across the field.

Tintin panted with effort of keeping up, and he was barely catching up. Kaeda sprinted out of the field, across a dirt road, and into the trees.

Seeing her vanish from sight, he pushed himself harder. The rain made the ground slick, and hard to run.

Suddenly, as he entered the trees, he tripped and landed on top of something. There were pained sobs, and he knew he had fallen onto Kaeda.

"Go away," she gasped. "Leave me alone. Let me die in peace."

"What? What are you talking about?" he questioned. They were slightly sheltered from the rain in the trees, but it was very cold. He could see her blue eyes, glowing in what little light there was.

He could feel her shaking. "I tricked you," she whispered as lightning lit her face. "I deceived you, led you to the slaughterhouse. And all to watch Kaito die." Kaeda turned her head. "I want to die, too."

Somehow, Tintin found himself laughing. "Can you believe that despite all that, I still love you?"

She shook her head defiantly. "No, no you don't. You should never have loved a… freak… like me."

Tintin paused. "What do you mean?" he asked sternly.

"Oh, can't you see it?" she wailed. "I used to look exactly like Kaito, from my hair to my eyes to my shoe size, Tintin! And then…," she broke off, unable to finish.

Curious and scared, Tintin persisted in finding an answer. "What happened? Tell me, everything."

"Kaito… was performing an experiment," she said quietly. "They had done the animal tests, and needed a human volunteer. I was eager to help my twin, so… I offered.

"I was the only one," Kaeda continued soberly. "So he had no choice but to take me. I was so happy."

"What was the experiment?" he pressed. There was no way that Kaeda- his beautiful Kaeda- had something wrong with her. She was too perfect.

"Performance enhancers," she whispered. "It's the reason Kaito called you to Japan in the first place, the reason they kidnapped him: to witness the successful test." She paused as another clap of thunder sounded overhead. "They were supposed to be temporary, but it's been nearly a year, and the effects haven't worn off yet. You saw what I can do."

She took a deep breath. "I remember that they strapped me to a table, and there were two shots of that blue liquid." Kaeda shuddered. "I'd never been in so much pain. And then, it was over, and the Professors were celebrating, and I was throwing tables through walls with superhuman strength." Meeting his eyes, Kaeda continued. "There was only one side effect," she said morbidly.

With a jolt, Tintin realized what she meant. "Your eyes," he breathed.

"So, do you see now?" she asked desperately. "You can't love me. I'm not human anymore! I'm-."

He cut her off with a long, hard kiss. "Do I look like I care?"

"You should," she grumbled.

Tintin chuckled quietly and kissed her again. "But I don't," he told her lovingly.

Kaeda's voice took on an edge. "Do you understand that I could throw you off with such force that it would break your neck, rip off your arms if I turned too quickly, crush you if I squeezed too hard?"

"But you won't," he promised her. "I know how performance enhancers work."

She cocked her head, intrigued. "Really."

He nodded. "Yes. They're misnamed, actually, because they don't give you enhance your performance, they enhance your endurance." Tintin adjusted himself so that he was on his elbows. "They don't increase the ratio of effort to strength, they simply make it so that you can use much more effort than the average human, and are thus stronger and can go longer. You can become more exhausted than any other human, and still use your full strength."

Kaeda blinked, impressed. "Well," she said, astounded, "I do believe you just took away all my ability to argue with you." She bit her lip. "But Kaito…."

"Kaito will survive," he told her firmly. "The wound wasn't deep, somehow, and the Captain has called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. He will be fine."

Her mouth gaped open. "But… but he said those weren't ready," she said, more to herself than anyone. "He _promised_ he wouldn't use them until he knew they were safe."

"What is it?" he urged her. The horror on her face was enough to let him know that something was wrong.

Kaeda pushed him off and leapt to her feet. "Kaito has more than one experiment up his sleeve." She cursed in Japanese. "And some are more dangerous than others." With that, she grabbed his hand and took off running. "He created something that makes his skin nearly impenetrable," she shouted over the wind, "an ointment that is to be rubbed on the skin once a week. It must have been losing its effect, because the bullet went through, but it does this weird thing to your breathing when something _does_ go through."

They had arrived at the abandoned building in half the time it'd taken them to get away from it. Realizing no one was there, Kaeda charged off again, pulling Tintin behind her. "They need to give him a mixture of oxygen and helium, or else he'll die."


	9. Chapter 9

9

"He won't survive."

"I doubt he'll even wake."

"Such a handsome boy. I wonder if he has family?"

"The two Europeans brought him in, so I doubt it."

Kaito's ears were working, but his eyes and voice were not. He knew what was wrong; he needed helium in his system, or else taking his drugs would have been in vain. Invincibility was nothing if his insides were just as mortal as a regular human.

He needed Kaeda. She alone had been present when he had diagnosed the problem and discovered helium as the solution. His sister knew how to save him.

* * *

Kaeda yanked Tintin through the doors of the hospital, and the stench of disinfectant reached his nose. It was so strong that it made him gag, but Kaeda moved very fast, and there wasn't much time for him to breathe it in. Snowy followed, yipping madly and demanding to know what was going on.

She sprinted down the hall and crashed through the emergency room doors. The receptionist behind the desk looked positively terrified, as did the Captain and the Professor.

Kaeda said something in rapid Japanese. The receptionist pointed to another set of doors, and Tintin was pulled through them as well. "Kaito!" was the only word he was able to understand.

They were looking into every room, searching for Kaeda's brother, when a doctor stopped them. He yelled at Kaeda and Tintin angrily, and Kaeda yelled back. The doctor suddenly looked panic stricken, muttered something, and whisked around. Kaeda and Tintin followed him.

The doctor led them to the room at the end of the hall. Before he could even point at it, Kaeda had dragged Tintin into the small room filled with beeping monitors.

"Kaito!" she cried, kneeling at his bed. She rambled on and on in Japanese, her voice cracking with tears, but Kaito's eyes were closed, and he did not respond.

Tintin sat down on the other side of the room, afraid to interrupt Kaeda's monologue to her brother. He felt horrible, like everything was his fault. Which, the more he thought about it, it probably was.

* * *

Mitsuhriato pushed himself off from the desk. His jaw felt broken, and pieces of his teeth were embedded in his cheeks and lips. His glasses had smashed and shards of glass were poking into his nose and left eye. His shoulder was shattered, the bone broken beyond repair, and his arm wouldn't move. There was blood pouring from somewhere around his ear.

Struggling, he staggered around the room, looking at his fallen comrades, and hot rage boiled up inside him. He should have won this round. Tintin had been absolutely cornered, his friends tied up, completely incapable of fleeing without one of his friends being killed.

And then Suzuki had shown the extent of his research, in his sister, and they had escaped.

Mitsuhriato already had a new plan. He would go to the hotel, and wait for them, and end Tintin once and for all.

He didn't intend to survive.

* * *

"So this is where he's staying?" Mr. Wang remarked, awestruck. He was weary from the journey, but he had to be amazed by the handiwork of the Japanese. "He never seemed like the fancy type."

"This is where Professor Suzuki reserved their rooms," Chang answered. He looked up at the ornately decorated ceiling, admiring the engravings. "His room is 315. We'll wait for him up there."

* * *

"Helium," Kaeda said.

The doctor stared at her curiously, and replied.

Kaeda was suddenly on her feet, screaming something in Japanese. The doctor cowered away from her, but nodded and rushed out of the room. She turned back to her brother and stroked his face, murmuring something soothing.

A nurse walked in, carrying a canister of helium. She hooked up the canister to Kaito's IV, and turned around to walk out.

She saw Tintin, and glared at him. "What are you doing?" she cried in very bad English. She grabbed his hand, and led him out of the room.

"Where are we going?" he asked. But the nurse just dragged him up the hallway, muttering, and opened the door to another room.

Michael spun around from where he was standing. His head was heavily bandaged, and his eyes were a little out of focus.

The nurse looked at Michael, back at Tintin, then threw her hands up in confusion and left.

"Hey, Kris," Michael greeted. He turned around again and went back to staring out the window. Snowy ran up to Michael and begged to be pet.

"What were you doing in Japan?" Tintin asked his brother.

Michael shrugged and ignored Snowy. "I was interested in the technology."

Tintin snorted. "Yeah right. And was it fascinating?"

His brother turned and glared at him. "You know, you're a real character. Think you can just do anything you want and get away with it. And look where it's gotten me!" He pointed at his head. "A concussion and possible brain damage."

"Why on earth were you Japan, Michael? You hate to travel, so why come all the way here? Hm?" Tintin folded his arms and closed the door of the room.

Michael looked away. "You'll call me stupid."

"As I've been doing for the past twenty years," he countered. "Tell me."

"I… received a book on divination from a friend," he admitted. "And I was using it, and it was somehow incredibly accurate. And it told me to go to Japan, so I did."

Tintin burst out laughing. "You _and_ the Professor?" He laughed even more. "That's too much of a coincidence!"

"It did!" Michael protested, blushing shamefully. He sounded like a nine-year-old again, and it felt as if they were squabbling over the stupidest thing in the world. "It told me that going to Japan would be wise, and that it would give me a chance to relive old memories." Michael glared and cursed under his breath. "And that's exactly what happened."

Tintin struggled to compose his face. "Michael," he said, "when has this happened before? Go on and tell me."

His brother narrowed his eyes. "You were completely and absolutely drunk," he spat. "It wouldn't surprise me if you didn't remember."

Something cold dropped in the pit of his stomach, and Tintin swallowed dryly. He remembered very clearly every detail of that night. The memory entered his mind intrusively, giving him no choice but to see it again.

_Kristofer took another drink, laughing. Michael tapped on his shoulder, muttered that it was time to go home, that Mama would be waiting. He shook his brother off and ordered another drink. _

"_Hey," Michael pestered. "We have to go." _

_Suddenly furious, Kristofer leapt up and started yelling incomprehensibly at his brother. He didn't want to go home. He was having too good a time. _

_Before he knew what was happening, they were fighting. Michael was merely defensive, knowing that he was stronger and could genuinely hurt Kris. _

"_Kris!" someone yelled. A large silver object came flying through the air. Kristofer caught it with amazing accuracy for someone so drunk. He stabbed the knife into Michael's chest. _

_The realization of what he had done sobered Kristofer up immediately. He gasped in shock, backing away slowly. And then he was running through the snow, whistling for Snowy and trying to get out of that town as fast as he could. _

"I remember," he murmured slowly.

To make Tintin feel even guiltier, Michael lifted up the hospital gown, revealing an ugly scar. "I should hope so."


	10. Chapter 10

10

Kaeda chewed on her nails nervously as the nurse slid the needle into Kaito's wrist. She twiddled the knob on the helium canister, and the sound of gas escaping broke the tense silence in the room.

She watched her brother intensely, waiting for a reaction. Suddenly his chest began to rise. And then it started to fall. And again.

Kaito was breathing again.

Kaeda leapt out of her chair with a little too much force, sent it into the wall with a loud bang, and hurried to her brother's side. "Kaito?" she asked desperately.

His eyelids fluttered.

A smile played on her lips, and it was all she could do to keep from cheering. Kaito would live; he would survive to make more crazy experiments and life threatening situations.

Tintin hunched over in his trench coat, its collar straight up against his neck because of the wind, alone. Snowy trailed behind him, complaining about puddles and wet paws, but his master hardly noticed him. He carried on, guilt ridden, back to the hotel.

What he had done to Michael was unforgivable. It was no wonder his brother stayed away from him; everything thing he did brought his brother misery.

_I should just pack my things and leave Japan,_ he thought. _I've had enough vacationing. I'll leave and never cause anyone pain ever again. Kaeda should be fine without me. _

He turned the corner, hoping it was the right street, and yet wishing he was lost at the same time. Tintin could- no, would- go back to Brussels and continue his life as a reporter the way he had started it.

Alone.

His feet carried him into the lobby, Snowy weaving between his legs to get attention. The dog saw his master's pain, and was desperate to make him smile.

"_Konichiwa,_ Mr. Tintin!" called the receptionist at the desk. Tintin waved, not wanting to be rude. He would go upstairs and pack his things, and board the next plane for Europe.

* * *

Chang and Mr. Wang trudged up the stairs, son helping father, while Mitsuhirato had just entered the elevator. Tintin was still in the lobby, on his way to the stairwell. He clambered up the stairs sadly, his head down and ignoring Snowy's low whining.

"I must rest, Chang," Mr. Wang told his adopted son as he sat down on the next step.

Tintin came up to them then. He stopped short when he saw them, and Chang greeted him exuberantly. "My friend!" he cried, embracing him. "Tintin, how marvelous it is to see you!"

"Chang!" Tintin exclaimed. "What? When did you get here?"

"This morning," he told him. "We had a fine time trying to find this place."

"Indeed we did," remarked Mr. Wang. "It's rather spectacular, don't you think." He looked around to add to what he said. "By the way, where is Kaito?"

Tintin blanched. "Kaito? Why?"

"He's an old friend," Mr. Wang explained.

Snowy cocked his head, listening. "Tintin doesn't look like he's going to tell the truth here, does he?" growled the dog, but of course, no one heard him.

His master hesitated, contemplating. "I… I just came back from the lab," he lied. "Professor Suzuki was going to bed when I left." _Why am I lying?_ Tintin wailed to himself. _There's no point in lying. Why am I lying?_

"Then we shall visit him tomorrow," announced Mr. Wang. He rose to his feet. "May we stay for a while longer?"

"O-of course!" Tintin said. "Let's go upstairs, yes."

He led the way up the rest of the stairs, down the hallway, and to his room. He fumbled with the key, his mind still buzzing guiltily about Michael and the he just told.

The key stuck in the lock, and did not turn.

Tintin stared at the lock, confused. "Now why aren't you opening?" he asked the door, somewhat irritated. He tried to force the key to turn, and it snapped in half in the door. Tintin, Chang, and Mr. Wang were left to stare at the broken stub of a key, while the rest remained inside the lock. "Oh," was all he said.

Chang began to laugh. "Look!" he said. "You've broken the key!" He laughed even harder.

Hesitantly, Tintin began laughing as well. "So I have," he said, grinning. "Now we won't-."

He broke off, for the knob on the door had turned itself and clicked it open a crack. Tintin could see into his room now through that little sliver. The lights were on; he distinctly remembered turning them off.

Gently he pushed the door the rest of the way open. His room looked normal, except for the damage left from Kaeda's kidnappers.

Tintin took a step into the room, and suddenly he was looking down the barrel of a gun.

Mitsuhriato did not hesitate. The sound of the gun echoed throughout the building, drowning out the useless screams of Chang and his adoptive father. Then the Japanese man turned the gun back and fired it upon himself.


	11. Chapter 11

11

"What a night we're having," exclaimed the surgeon, exasperated. "Two men with shots to the head, another with a different head injury, and one who needs helium in his blood system in order to breathe." He rolled his eyes at the nurse as he snapped his glove on. "Have we ever had more work to do?"

Tintin and Mitsuhriato lay on separate operating tables, the surgeons conversing in Japanese to each other as they worked. The radio was on, tuned to the news. The anchorman had just come on, talking about the latest crime scene the police had found.

"… with a hole blown into the side of the building," he said. "There were four bodies found, and evidence that those who were merely injured fled the scene soon afterward. It seems like there was a gang fight, or even drug lords. Police stated that they hadn't seen a crime scene this gruesome since the killings of Kyo Domo, the serial killer from the 1920's."

The surgeon laughed as he removed the bullet from Tintin's brain. "Sounds like a bloodbath."

"Yep," agreed his friend. He whistled. "This guy is messed up. He's not going to make it."

"Should we tell the little Chinese folks who brought him in?"

"Can you speak Chinese?"

"…No, but they should probably be told."

"How's Blondie doing?"

The surgeon examined Tintin, checking his breathing and heart rate. "He'll live. It will be a few days before he can think straight again. We're looking at possible brain damage." He cocked his head, confused. "He looks _exactly_ like the other guy with the head wound," he said.

"The European?"

"Yeah."

"Hm…." The other surgeon turned to his nurse. "Can you send a message to the Chinese men who brought these two here? Let them know that their blonde friend will make it, but the other…"

The nurse nodded and left the room.

* * *

"Chang?" asked Captain Haddock. "My God, is that you?"

"Captain!" cried Chang through his tears. "Oh, Captain, it's awful! Tintin's been shot!"

"Who forgot?" questioned the Professor. "And what did they forget?"

"Shot!" exclaimed Haddock. "By who?"

"Mitsuhriato," he answered. "We went up to his room and he was standing right there and… and…" the boy couldn't finish.

The nurse walked up to them, heard them speaking English, and grinned. This was a language she knew. "Mr. Wang?" she began in a slow voice. "You're friend, the European, is going to live. The Japanese man is not. I am sorry for you."

Mr. Wang gaped. "No, no, it's quite alright. Thank you very much."

The instant the nurse turned away, Chang and the Captain leapt out of their chairs and whooped. Haddock grabbed the Professor and brought him into a waltz through the waiting room, earning strange looks from the other people. "He's going to live! Tintin's going to live!"

They celebrated like that for another minute or so, until the Captain broke off his dance with the very confused Professor. "We must call the Thompsons and let them know he's all right! In fact, we must tell them _everything_."

So they did. Or tried, at least. Unfortunately, the telephone couldn't reach overseas. In the end, Haddock resorted to writing a letter, angered that it wouldn't get to the Thompsons as fast as he would have liked.

* * *

Two weeks passed. The doctors removed the bandages from Tintin and Michael's heads. Kaito was released. Kaeda, Haddock, the Professor, Chang and Mr. Wang spent all their waking hours visiting them.

"Hello," Kaeda said, smiling and extending the hand that wasn't in Tintin's towards Chang. "My name's Kaeda. It's a pleasure to meet a friend of Tintin's."

Chang stared, and finally grinned. Like everyone, he was absolutely captivated by her blue eyes. "I'm Chang," he said. "Tintin is the reason I'm still alive."

"I think that debt is paid now," Tintin laughed. "If it weren't for you I'd have died on the floor of a hotel." He winced. "Not the way I would have liked to go down."

"I just can't believe Mitsuhirato committed suicide," Kaito mumbled.

Haddock shrugged. "The newspaper did, that one time he evaded us. And we all thought he really had."

Calculus grinned and pushed his glasses further up his nose. "Now, I'm not feeling bad. I'm exceedingly happy! All my friends are alive and well."

"We weren't talking about you," Chang pointed out.

"What did Maria do?" asked the Professor, now staring at Kaeda accusingly.

Kaeda giggled. "How will we ever tell him what my name is?" she said pitifully.

Tintin twitched. He tore his hand from Kaeda's grasp and clutched his head. The horrible ringing sound had started again, loud and piercing.

Someone leaned out in the hall and got the nurse. Tintin felt himself being moved, but all he could hear was the awful ringing. Spots covered his vision. He didn't know what was going on and he didn't care. _Anything_ to get the ringing to stop.

Back in the room, the visitors all sat helplessly and nervous now that the person they were visiting was gone.

Michael leaned back in his chair. "Glad I'm not him."

"Oh, shut up, you blubbering banshee," Haddock insulted him with disinterest. "That would've been you if Tintin hadn't shown up and saved your life, you ungrateful landlubber."

"His name," Michael said, exasperated, "is Kristofer. Not Tintin. It's a cover to hide his past from the world. Understand? He didn't want to be remembered as Kristofer Foster. He had to go and make a new name. My brother was too ashamed of who he was and what he did to have _that_ be his name in the history books."

"And what did he do?" Chang snapped. "Tintin is nothing but noble. He would never have done such horrible things as you-."

"Oh, he wouldn't, would he?" countered Michael. "You think you know my brother better than I do? Do you, now? Come on, you yellow faced child, _do you?_"

Chang fell silent, glaring at Michael. Everyone was listening now.

"Kris was no angel," he continued. "No, he was a complete idiot and an outright prankster. He was extremely competitive. Kris had to be the best in all the sports, all the games, even all our parents' love. Mum loved the little jerk like he was her sun. The only thing he couldn't beat me in was Dad's affection, and I have to say, I was proud of it.

"Kris met the wrong people. He started to steal. He started to drink. Imagine opening the door to see your fourteen-year-old brother being held by the cop and stinking of booze. All his wrongs destroyed Mum, and she died. All I ever did was look out for him, and Kris didn't even care. The only thing I had ever seen Kris love was that stupid, mangy mutt."

Snowy growled threateningly and backed under the Captain's chair. All of them were listening intently to the story, even Calculus, though how much he was actually hearing was uncertain.

"And then there was that night in the bar. Kris stabbed me, you see. He was drunk, got his hands on a knife, and stabbed me. He left that night, and he took the dog with him." Michael snorted. "And I thought, 'Good riddance! Now I can live my own life!' And now look at me! I go halfway around the world and the bastard still manages to drag me into his affairs."

Silence filled the room. It was clear that the story was over, yet no one spoke. Finally, the Captain said, "He's changed."

Again, Michael snorted. "Really? He left England for Belgium, and the only friends he's made are a little Chinese boy, an old drunkard, a deaf Professor, and a geisha. Yes, he's made _quite_ an improvement."

Kaito stood so suddenly that he knocked his chair over. "You will not speak of my sister that way," he hissed.

Chang and Haddock stood with him. "Nor Tintin," added the Captain. "He's changed from what you say he was. Never have I seen him voluntarily touch a drink, save for the first night we came to Japan. He's done nothing but help people since I've met him."

Haddock and Michael met each other with icy stares. Michael's fist curled, and the Captain took a fighting stance. It was clear they were about to start brawling.

Mr. Wang stepped between them. "Now boys-."

At that moment, the door swung open and the nurse brought Tintin back into the room. His eyes were closed and he was asleep, yet he looked far from peaceful. The nurse wheeled him back to his bed, straightened up, and looked at them all as best she could. "Him have brain damage," she said in struggling English. "Him have headaches and ringing in ears. Him may not get better."

Kaeda nodded. "_Arigato_," she said.

The nurse grinned and bowed out of the room.

Immediately, Kaeda turned to Michael. "I believe you," she said. "He told me he had had problems. But Kristofer has changed. I'm not asking you to take back what you said-."

Kaito growled and narrowed his eyes, but he sat down again.

"I'm asking you to believe that he has," Kaeda continued.

Michael stared at his brother. "You don't know the kind of hell he put me through, geisha. There are some things that are unforgivable."

"By my mother's hairy back, he could die!" screamed the Captain. The others shushed him. "He's got himself blistering brain damage because of you!"

"Because of me?" Michael replied, and the tension in the air grew.

Kaeda jumped up. "Would you all just listen to yourselves?" she exclaimed. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine. Stop blaming each other!"

They fell silent. Kaeda huffed with rage. "All the blame points to me. This entire thing is my fault, and if it hadn't been for me, Tintin would be perfectly healthy and Michael probably never would have been pulled into all this." She turned to Michael and bowed. "_Gomenasai,_" she said. "I'm sorry."

Kaito stood and embraced his sister. "Kaeda, it was me. I started all of this."

She pulled away and looked up at him with her electric blue eyes. "But it was me who followed their plan. I was the one who did everything they said. You fought them."

Kaito shrugged. "Whatever makes you feel better. I've learned not to argue with you." He turned to Calculus, cupped his hands around his mouth, and yelled, "DO YOU WANT TO COME TO THE LAB?"

"Go in a cab?" asked the Professor. "But where could we possibly be going?"

Haddock glanced between Michael and Kaito. "I'll go," he said.

"I like these kind of things," Mr. Wang admitted. "Chang, would you like to come?"

Chang looked at Tintin with worry. "Well, I guess he'll be okay. Sure."

The five of them walked out, buzzing with excited conversation and trying their best not to cast nervous looks back in the room. Michael and Kaeda were the only ones left.

"You're not going?" he asked her.

Kaeda shook her head. "I grew up in the lab. It's not that exciting anymore."

Michael made a face, as if he were indecisive between angry and happy. Finally, he stood, grabbed his coat, and made for the door. At the doorway, he paused, and turned back. "Geisha," he began. "Do you love Kristofer?"

Kaeda placed her hand in Tintin's, and watched him sleep. "Yes," she whispered. Her eyes watered, and tears threatened to fall.

Michael made the face again. "Well… good. He's your problem now." He donned his coat and was gone.

With a sad smile, Kaeda played with Tintin's hair. It no longer stood in its cowlick, having grown too long to do so. She liked it better like this. It looked much more dashing. She brushed it away from his forehead and pressed her lips to him. Her eyes couldn't hide the tears anymore, and she let them fall.

She was depressed, she was terrified, and she was happier than she had ever been before. Somehow, it was all going to be alright.


	12. Chapter 12

12

Tintin went back to Belgium with the Captain and the Professor. Michael came home to England. Kaeda remained in Japan with Kaito, insisting that the next time Tintin came to Japan, she would be waiting for him.

Tintin's brain damage affected his coordination. The Thompson's brought him one of their finest canes when they came to file the report. Tintin told them everything, having to ask them to speak quietly because anything loud made his head feel like it would explode. He wrote an article on his adventure in Japan, and his editor insisted it was front page material, even sending it all over the world. Tintin was the cover story for the New York Times, _The Sun_ in Great Britain, and of course he was all over Japan and Belgium.

Within the next two years, Kaito published his research on performance enhancers and his ointment that made the skin impenetrable, and won the Nobel. Kaeda became something of a wonder.

And Tintin was lonely. Snowy used to be all he needed for comfort, but even the dog could see the depression in his master's face. The way he limped around the apartment, hobbling around on the cane. His hair grew long and unkempt. He constantly had to sit down because of his headaches. And every day he went without seeing Kaeda, he felt a hole in his chest get bigger. Slowly, he was losing his will to keep trying.

Haddock and Calculus visited him constantly, and tried to get him to come and stay with them at Marlinspike. But he refused, afraid that his depression would rub off on his friends, something they didn't deserve.

"Oh, come on, Tintin!" Haddock insisted. "It'll be good for you. Thundering typhoons, that Castafiore woman has invited herself over again. You expect me to put up with that alone?"

Tintin managed a smile. "She's too loud. If I stay there, my head will explode."

"That makes two of us," growled the Captain. "Please, Tintin? We can get you earmuffs!"

"I'd really rather not," Tintin replied. He reached down and scratched Snowy's head, simply for something to do.

"You've been cooped up in here for two years, boy!" Haddock cried. "Your reports have gone downhill, but your boss is afraid to fire you because you're Tintin! He terrified you'll get a job with another paper and start cranking out fantastic stories again. Why don't you go and prove you've still got that fighting spirit, eh?"

Tintin looked down at his dog morbidly. "Why would I do that? I haven't got it anymore."

Haddock swore and kicked the table, earning himself a throbbing pain in the foot. Calculus had his divination book open, completely oblivious to the conversation. He grabbed Tintin's empty tea cup and looked at the tea leaves. "Oh!" he shouted, causing Tintin to wince.

"What?" he asked quietly.

"Tintin, Tintin, you're in for some good news!" exclaimed Calculus. "By tomorrow, you'll have cause to celebrate!" He stood and pulled Tintin to his feet, dancing him around the apartment. "We'll have our Tintin back! He'll be all smiles and adventure again!"

The Captain grabbed Calculus and led him out the door. "See you tomorrow," he called to Tintin, not wanting to spend another moment around the depressing aura emitting from his friend.

The day passed like every other day had passed. A visit from the Captain and the Professor, a call from the Thompsons telling him that they were assigned to go to Brazil or some other place, and watching television while trying to come up with a better idea for a story than "Switzerland in Cheese Crisis: Will This Be the End of Holey Cheese?"

There was a gentle knock on the door. "It's open," Tintin called. He flicked off the television and stood to greet his guest, only because he told himself it proved he wasn't as depressed as everyone thought.

The door opened, and Michael entered. He leaned on the door and nodded. "Hello, Kristofer."

Tintin sat down again. This was no cause for celebration. "Hello Michael," he replied disinterestedly. "Come to guilt me into something else? Perhaps tease me because of the cane? Tell me I look more like Dad than ever?"

Michael looked around, saw only Tintin and Snowy, and raised his eyebrows. "Where's the geisha?"

"Japan," Tintin said curtly.

"Really?" Michael asked, surprised. "I thought she'd be here by now."

"Why are you even in Belgium?" snapped his brother.

Michael shrugged. "My divination book said I should come, saying that if something didn't happen, it would be the last time I'd see you, Kris." He fixed him with a stern gaze. "You aren't thinking about suicide, are you?"

Tintin glared at him. "What do you care?"

"I'm your brother!" cried Michael. "Of course I care!" He stepped into the apartment and closed the door. "And if you are trying to kill yourself, you're stuck with me."

He gaped at his older brother. "What? You can't just barge in and say you're going to live with me!"

"Hell yes I can, because it's me or the asylum."

"What kind of cause to celebrate is this!" Tintin asked the ceiling, throwing his arms up.

* * *

"No, you can't sleep in here."

"How can I make sure you don't OD on some pills you might have stashed if I don't?"

Tintin narrowed his eyes. "This is my room, you ass. I don't want you sleeping in here with me. Besides, there's only one bed!"

"There's plenty of floor," Michael pointed out.

"Don't you have some English girl to go back to?" Tintin spat.

Michael placed a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder. "You are more important to me than any girl," he said, smirking.

Tintin fumed, but remained silent. He hobbled over to his bed and lay down.

Disgusted, Michael gaped at him. "You're going to sleep like that? In clothes you've been wearing all day? _Without a shower?_"

"Yes," snarled Tintin. "I can't be in the shower without killing myself."

Michael frowned. "That wasn't funny."

"Wasn't supposed to be," he grumbled. He pulled the blanket over himself.

Furious, Michael yanked the blanket back. "No," he said. "As long as I'm here, you'll be presentable at any waking hour of the day." He smelled the blanket and recoiled. "When was this thing last washed?"

Tintin shrugged. Michael leaned forward and smelled his brother, and was forced to jump backwards. "When were _you_ last washed?" he asked.

Michael refused to let Tintin sleep that night. He shoved him in the bathroom and made him bathe. He washed his sheets and all his clothes, vacuumed the entire apartment, opened the windows, even cut his brother's hair. Snowy got a flea bath, and then a bone so he wouldn't attack Michael.

When everything was clean, it was dawn, and Tintin and Michael had fallen asleep on the couch, side by side, with Snowy on their laps. It was well past noon when they woke again. Tintin was forced into the shower again and given fresh clothes to wear.

"Don't you feel better now that you're clean?" Michael asked. He was very pleased with his work, considering the mess everything had been when he got there.

To his surprise, Tintin nodded. "I do, actually. Thanks, Michael."

Snowy begged to be pet, and Michael reached down and scratched the dog's head. "Good," he said. He looked at his watch. "Turns out I was a day early."

Confused, Tintin stared at him. "What do you mean?"

Someone whistled outside, loud and sharp. Michael raced to the window and grinned. "Brother," he said. "It's for you."

Tintin limped to the window, more puzzled than ever. He looked down on the street below.

And there she was, in a dress the exact color of her eyes, her simple black hair blowing around her face in the wind. Her smile was infinitely better than he remembered, with her lips pulled back around her teeth in an expression of utmost glee. She raised her arm and waved. "Kristofer!" she called, and her voice was like the tolling of bells on a Sunday morning, so beautiful that there was nothing that could compare to it.

"Kaeda," Tintin whispered. And then he was yelling. "KAEDA! What are you doing here?"

She grinned. "You didn't come back to Japan, so I came here." Her eyes seemed to glow with tears. "I love you!" she said.

Tintin felt weak kneed. "I love you too!" he replied.

Kaeda laughed. "Good!" she told him.

Tintin turned to his brother. "Thank you so much, Michael," he said.

Michael grinned. "You're welcome. Now, you've got some friends down at Marlinspike who've been waiting for this. Shall we?"

Tintin grabbed his cane and followed Michael out of the apartment and down the stairs, onto the street and into Kaeda's arms, not caring who saw or what they thought. He kissed her, deeply, and it was a thousand times more wonderful than he remembered.

"Kaito's been working on something new," she told him. The wind blew her hair into her face and she had to keep brushing it out of her eyes. "He says he can repair your brain damage with a tablet."

Tintin grinned. "Fantastic!" he yelled over the wind.

* * *

"I really don't like that Castafiore woman," Kaeda whispered to Tintin as Bianca Castafiore broke into yet another song.

Tintin shrugged. "She doesn't come here often."

Haddock sat down next to them, clutching his ears. "Billions of blue blistering barnacles, she's in the other room and my eardrums still want to shatter."

Calculus walked by, his book in his hand. "My dear Maria," he said, bowing. "I heard the news. When will the wedding be?"

Tintin and Kaeda laughed. "Not quite yet," Kaeda replied.

"At sunset? My dear, where's your gown! And I haven't gotten you a wedding present! You really should give more of a warning!"

"No, you great buffoon!" screamed the Captain. "They're not getting married!"

"Oh no, it really does vary in colors," the Professor responded. "I think I'll get them in blue."

"What are you talking about!" Haddock cried. He shook his head. "By scurvy, I need a drink. NESTOR!"

As the butler rushed to his master's aid, Tintin took Kaeda's hand. "Would you like to get married?" he asked. "Well, not this instant, but…"

Her eyes danced. "Yes, Kristofer. I'd like that very much." He leaned forward to kiss her, but she placed a finger to his lips, causing him to stop. "Although, I must say that wasn't much of a proposal. You don't even have a ring!"

"It wasn't the real proposal," Tintin answered. "I still have to plan that. It was just to see if your answer was what I hoped it would be."

She grinned. "Cheater," she teased.

He shrugged. "At least I won't be making a fool out of myself." He went to kiss her again.

"Tintin!" crooned Bianca, scooping him into a back breaking hug. "Oh, my noble friend, I've missed you so."

Tintin pried himself out of her embrace. "Bianca," he said, forcing a smile, "this is my girlfriend, Kaeda."

Bianca beamed at her. "Well, well, Tintin. You've finally found yourself someone!" She pulled Kaeda into an equally suffocating hug. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Lana."

"Kaeda," Kaeda corrected her.

"Oh, sorry, Kayla," Bianca said. "I'm terrible with names." She looked over to Haddock, who was edging his way out of the room. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go and have a word with dear Captain Padlock. _Hasta luego,_ lovebirds!"

Tintin met Kaeda's with an uncertain smile. "Still don't like her?"

Kaeda twisted around, causing her back to crack. "Nope," she said. She took his hand again, and kissed him. "You really need to be a bit more assertive if you ever want to be the one kissing me."

He raised an eyebrow. "You do know that now we're the only ones in here…" He gestured around the room, "everyone out there is talking about what we're probably doing?"

She smiled. "Let them talk," she said slyly. "It could be true." She draped her arms around his neck, and, finally, he kissed her.

_Someday,_ he thought, _she'll be my wife. And nothing will ever keep us apart. _The thought alone made him happier than ever before. They would have so many adventures, writing his stories.

He wondered if she was interested in journalism.

~The End~

***AN: I would like to write more adventures of Tintin and Kaeda, but I haven't had an idea yet. Right now I'm working on my Avengers stories, and this revised version of "Tintin in Japan" is because laloga reviewed and gave me some criticism, and this is me following the advice. I had a lot of spelling errors. Wow. Anyways, thanks for reading.***


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